Sad news: No Adventure Playground this year on Mercer Island

Published March 2019

Updated March 13, 2019

A very cool program has fallen victim to budget cuts.

Mercer Island will not offer the Adventure Playground Drop-in program this summer.

The playground, on 2 acres within Deane’s Children’s Park (still open), was unique in that it offered creative (and potentially dangerous!) activities for kids involving tools like hammers, nails and hacksaws — with supervision, of course.

The city says failure of a levy-lid lift in November has forced cuts to non-essential programs in order to balance the 2019-20 budget. The Adventure Playground had been offered on a drop-in basis, and with supervision.

In its place, there will be five weeks of Adventure Playground Camp, sponsored by JayMarc Homes.

Participants ages 6-11 will design and build forts and treehouses, learn outdoor survival skills, and more with the instruction of camp staff, professional builders, and naturalists.